Question
I just reshaped my pond and fitted a new liner. Where the plastic coils are in the bottom of the filter box look extremely muddy. Should i empty the filter box completely and wash these coils? Or is it best to leave them because of the bacteria? The pond is 1 year old.

Answer
Is it mud or "pond gold?"  Pond gold is a thick black slop that accumulates in the bottom of the filter.  It is not where your nitrogen cycle is mostly taking place.  That's on the cleaner filter media.  The slop is decomposing animal and plant waste which you don't want in the pond.  I remove the pond gold when I clean my filters routinely.  I'm not sure what you mean by "coils."  You have Springflo?  If so, you can squirt the slop off of them.  If you have city water, it may be safer to rinse them instead in some pond water in a kiddie pool.  Since I have well water, I just squirt and put back.  The good bacteria grow better on filter media that's not all gunked up with slop.  Of course, you'll remove some but you'll also open up some fresh locations for bacterial colonization. Good luck!

Robyn
fishpondinfo.com